Someone should write a thesis or book on James Walter Nichols. The person to do this, that is, the one with the most inside information on the later Nichols is Harold Straughn who has already posted on this list [Stone-Campbell] in respect to Nichols and his significance to Churches of Christ. Among the reasons for such a project is that, for those interested in such questions, Nichols can be a classical study in whether it is a man who molds a movement or a movement which molds a man. My bias is that some of both usually occurs, and I think this is the case with James Walter, as Gladys, his mother, called him. But Nichols offers an unusual crucible in which to test molding inasmuch as whatever Nichols undertook was herculean. The playing field Nichols frequented, was not so much that of mere mortals, but of the gods themselves.
I first met Nichols in the summer of 1949 in Madison, Wisconsin. He was a going toward twenty-two year old bachelor and in the opinion of some, likely to stay that way since he had too many irons in the fire to even look at a girls. He was the son of an Abilene Christian Bible professor who died of a heart attack at the age of 44, as I recall. As he neared forty James saw his biological heritage as a nemesis, and indeed his death was the result of a suspected heart attack while on a business trip to California. He was already well known on the Abilene scene in 1949, having been a stellar Abilene Christian debater. His mother lived at 650 College Drive. In 1955 in the spring I took Harding debaters to Abilene for the annual tournament. Most of my debaters stayed at the Nichols. It seems to me that James Walter was out of town. At least, I don t remember talking with him. Dorothy and I stayed with the James Willefords who lived nearby. In 1949 James told me of his dreams. He moved to Iowa to take a master's in speech, planning to return to Abilene Christian to teach speech and coach debate. He had, however, been preaching for the church in Cedar Rapids which blossomed under his preaching and leadership. He started a radio program and had received considerable response from that region of Iowa. He hoped to finish his master's work, he told me, but it was pretty much on the shelf. His excitement was radio and the Cedar Rapids congregation. Already he was starting to dream about the Churches of Christ having a national program. James D. Willeford likewise had a radio program in Madison. He too was a dreamer and promoter. I heard them brainstorm some that summer about such a prospect, and I suspect they may have talked more in depth when I was not around, but I do not know that for sure. About a year later they networked their two programs and each preached a month or alternately, I don't remember for sure. James was in Madison to lead singing for a campaign in which Trine Starnes did the preaching. James never finished his master's at Iowa. He had too many other important matters to get on with.
Within in two or three weeks after the 1973 death of James Nichols, I was in the Abilene law office of Jack and Billie Curry. I got to know Billie because I was a Frater Sodalis sponsor. Billie and Jack were helping Dorothy and me with our will. It was not that we had much, but we, or at least I, did considerable traveling, and we were concerned as to what would happen to our kids should one or both of us die in an accident. Jack and I spoke briefly about James Walter. Jack was Bettye Nichols's attorney, and perhaps also James's. (James and Bettye Elrod were married in 1953. This came as a surprise to some since they didn't know when James found time for the courtship). Jack said to me that James controlled many resources, but his estate was in shambles and he really felt sorry for Bettye, since it would take perhaps a couple of years to get it all worked through. It was both a legal and financial nightmare. He said that James had many great business ideas, but he never saw any of them established on a solid basis. He was always launching a new enterprise before his former string of involvements, in which he kept a hand, were firmly established. James was a person of great charisma. I recall the first 1963 planning meeting regarding the New York World's Fair (1964-65) held at a hotel in Manhattan. James arrived sometime during dinner. Many of the some 50 persons abandoned their meals and stood in line to shake hands with this 36 year old wonder, even though he was there mostly for advisement and did not take an active part in the proceedings.
In the 1970 Preachers of Today (vol. 4) Nichols listed these activities and positions:
1951-54 Herald of Truth radio speaker. 1955-57 Editor of Christian Chronicle. 1957-66 executive vice-president Fidelity Enterprises, Inc. 1966-69 president Fidelity Enterprises. 1960 president of Hallmark Communications, Inc. (merger Fidelity Enterprises, Inc. and Dynamic Theatre Networks, Inc.) Board of directors U. S Capital Corp. Board of directors of GDL Productions. Chairman board of directors Technique II, Inc. Member American Institute of Management. Board of Trustees of Columbia Christian College. Advisory Board of Abilene Christian College. Who's Who in the Southwest. Who's Who in Business and Industry. Somewhere in that list, I presume was his involvement in the development of mobile home communities in California.
Mentioned previously by both Straughn and Haymes [in electronic discussion] was the starting up of a new television network with programs broadcast from Las Vegas. That far reaching dream did not linger long. The principle backers were Jack and Hal McGlothlin of Abilene. Ray talked to me about it once. He saw it as a pipe dream from the start. He put money in, it but very little. Ray and his bank, First National, survived the many Abilene financial ups and downs through the years. His brothers didn't.
So James s failure to finish the M.A. in Speech at Iowa was symptomatic of his life to the end.
My main purpose here, however, is to comment on Harold's [Straughn] suggestion that Nichols has not received adequate attention as a change agent in the life of the Churches of Christ. For example, Richard Hughes says little about him in his book and for good reason, which is at the same time a pitfall in the Hughes s methodology. Hughes mostly depended upon documentary evidence to chronicle ideas in the history of the Churches of Christ. Because James did not often enter the fray in Churches of Christ perennial periodical polemics, his behind the scenes negotiations were passed over. And again, James did not live to be celebrated in retirement years for his achievements. In all the winds of change from the 1980's on, the Nichols memory has not been kept alive, perhaps in part because the people who could most appropriately do this, the Don Haymes's, the Lane Cubsteads, the Harold Straughns, bailed out, or at least, did not go on to achieve status in the movement and thereby secure a solid historical cause/effect role for their mentor. The prospect that one mold a movement is perhaps as dependent on persons mentored and who carry on the dream as it is in what the person her or his self attained in their own lifetime, especially if it was short. The triumph of Christianity was, to a large degree, dependent on those mentored, who kept placarded for later generations the short lived ministry of their Lord and master. I agree with Harold that the importance of Nichols in redirecting goals and methods in Churches of Christ in the 1950's and 60's has been understated. Nichols was a man for the times. In some respects he may have been ahead of his times, but mostly he functioned at the cutting edge of the time in regard to brotherhood cooperative projects in the media, both broadcasting and print.
World War II America experienced the exhilarating victory in which the United States emerged as the leading world power. These achievements were attained through mega-organization and the involvement of citizens at all levels. In the post-war years Americans had grandiose dreams that through organization and effort they could attain whatever they set out to do. Many in Churches of Christ who were involved in the war effort shared that vision, but who was to lead? Who had the vision, the political savvy, the brotherhood credentials and networking possibilities to operationalize these dreams? The answer is James Walter Nichols. In offering this judgment I am placing him ahead of James D. Willeford. It may be that Willeford contributed as much to the refocused Churches of Christ polity as did Nichols. I m not sure about this. It may be that John Barton who at least sometimes lurks on this list has a judgment. Barton wrote his Penn State Ph.D. dissertation on the Herald of Truth. But Nichols went on to the Christian Chronicle and even to other endeavors which Hughes could have set out as pushing the Churches of Christ down the path toward denominationalism. Nichols may have been even more influential in this regard than George Benson or G. C. Brewer at whose feet Hughes lays considerable influence in the move toward denominationalism, or at least, away from apocalypticism. Don Haymes can tell stories of the Nichols's dream for channeling all, if not most, of brotherhood publications and supplies to Abilene enterprises. The achievement of the Herald of Truth compromise was the channel through which Churches of Christ congregations both protected their fierce independence, at least, so they alleged, and engaged in large cooperative efforts for which they gained a taste in the war. As the century winds down, we have para-Churches of Christ entities such as Manna International. But the Herald of Truth effort was to keep it Churches of Christ (rather than para) by placing the Herald of Truth under the direction of one Church of Christ, that is, the Fifth and Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas. From a New Testament perspective, it is true, I think, that the churches worked together for a larger goal, for example, the relief of the poor in Jerusalem in a time of famine. But it is not clear that the collection promoted by Paul was supervised by one congregation, namely the one in Antioch. Nevertheless, Churches of Christ by this rationale took up larger projects beyond the capabilities of individual congregations. And that was a new step for the heirs of those who opposed mission societies. The scene as the century winds down is in flux. Major projects which depend on money from church treasuries still follow the Nichols compromise, indeed if he was the author or orchestrator. Those who provided the persuasive polemics in the churches were E. R. Harper and Frank Cawyer. The future strategies may head off in a different direction, but people in churches of Christ are still very wary of larger structures that can become bureaucratic and stuff opinions and procedures down the throat of operationally independent congregations.
Nichols took the lead, and in some sense molded the movement. But as the stakes got higher he discovered that it was increasingly difficult to be the tail that wagged the dog. It may be for this reason that he went on to financial challenges. But I think the assessment of what he might achieve in the churches was only part of the reason. Nichols was not content with a playing field occupied by mere mortals; he felt he could compete with the immortal gods themselves. Jack Curry believed Nichols might have achieved even in these stellar arenas, had he been inclined to solidify as he soared in the stratosphere. Perhaps Nichols molded the movement as much as it was possible to do so. He in turn was molded as he worked within the movement's parameters and propensities. Both Nichols and the movement eventually headed off in different directions, and Nichols became a man without a movement, though he occasionally opted to appear in ancillary roles.